Mental Illness at the Margins

Catalog description

Mental illness is a central component of social life and social structure. However, the individual and community experience of mental illness is profoundly shaped by the intersectional statuses of gender, race, class and nationality. Sociology, biopsychiatry, psychology, the general public, and people with mental illness view this subject with widely disparate perspectives. This course develops an integrated understanding of how these approaches help us comprehend mental illness in a broad, intersectional social context. We examine the public perceptions of mental illness through mass media, literature, memoirs, music, and poetry. Restricted to Class of Junior, Senior.